Steinhauser: Bush tells NH1 he wants 'to learn' from Romney

AMHERST – Jeb Bush returns to New Hampshire this week, just hours after meeting with Mitt Romney.

The former Florida governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate holds a town hall Wednesday evening at the VFW post in Hudson.

Earlier in the day, Bush meets at his family’s compound along the Atlantic Ocean in Kennebunkport, Maine, with the 2012 GOP presidential nominee.

“I invited Mitt and Ann to come lunch with Columba and I and my parents about two months ago. I knew they were going to be up here, and they agreed to do it. Just to talk to them, the guy’s the last guy to have run. I wish he was president of the United States right now. He has a lot experience on the process, on the journey that I just started, so I wanted to learn from him,” Bush said in a one-on-one interview with NH1 News.

Bush and Romney last met in January in Utah, when the former Massachusetts governor was considering a third bid for the White House. Romney eventually decided against making a third run. The two men are not known to be particularly close.

But Romney is closer with former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara. In past summers, the Romneys have made the 50-mile trip from their family compound on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, across the state line to the Bush compound at Walker’s Point.

Asked if he’ll learn from Romney’s lack of transparency during the 2012 campaign, Bush told NH1 News “look everybody has their own campaign. I released 33 years of tax returns, all my emails. I’ll release my medical records at some point whenever it’s appropriate to do it. I think running for president at a time of really deep disaffection, where people don’t believe the system is working for them, it’s important to open up everything and be as transparent as you can.”

Asked if other 2016 candidates should follow his lead, Bush said “they’re going to have to make up their minds on that. I’ve started on this journey. I’m not going to stop.”

Bush spoke with NH1 News minutes before marching Saturday in the Amherst July 4th parade.

Bush said that the first-in-the-nation primary state’s important, adding “look , it’s important for every candidate. Fifteen people running at last count, or 65, I can’t remember which. And you gotta do well here.”